Del Col and McCreery’s Kill Shakespeare: A Reading of Shakespeare through Critical Pedagogy

Abstract

Objectives: This paper aims to investigate how the inherent taste in Shakespeare can change through the teaching of the very core of English heritage; Shakespeare, by applying critical pedagogy as a method which in its turn diminishes superiority of the value and taste that is given to his name. Methods: It argues that teaching through the usage of critical pedagogy is a way to tame the idea, the name, and the obsession of and with Shakespeare by answering the question: How could critical pedagogy be a way for educators to specialize in and inform students of Shakespeare without becoming part of the Western Metaphysical bandwagon that idealizes cover-ups which market preach-hood and forms? Results: The results indicate that there is a need to a reading of the word ‘Shakespeare’ through critical pedagogy. This would make space for the death of the author and the authority that is associated to the word ‘Shakespeare.’ Conclusion: Finally, the paper will conclude with how Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery's comic book series, Kill Shakespeare (2010-2014), as well as other literary texts, have brought to light ways in which the authority of Shakespeare's dominion over the English literary canon and the pressure of approaching Shakespeare is a window to reading Shakespeare under the scope of critical pedagogy.